When a dedicated group of teens drove out of the city limits Friday, they left behind a small gift that will make a big difference in the lives of local residents.

Since 1997, the Red Clay Mission Project has been providing home repairs for low-income, elderly and handicapped families. This year, the group of helpful teens made some much-needed repairs to cottages located at the Harpst

Campus of the Murphy-Harpst Children’s Centers.

United Methodist Church teens and their adult leaders, spent this past week away from their home of Webster, NY., pressure-washing, scraping and painting. No doubt a hot job considering the notorious Georgia humidity.

Teens involved in Red Clay come to expect a lot of hot and hard work, but know that their dedication to improving the lives of others is appreciated.

Over the years, mission teams have repaired roofs, built new porches, built handicap-access ramps, replaced windows and other projects to help make homes safe and warm for local needy families.

Worship services, recreation and time spent with Murphy-Harpst Children’s Center residents are also important to the Red Clay Mission, which began on the children’s center campus.

The initial day of Red Clay Mission is designed to build team skills among the participants. A challenging ‘ropes course,’ a community scavenger hunt and mission round table discussion prepare mission teams for their upcoming projects.

In the past nine years, hundreds of students from dozens of United Methodist Churches have volunteered their time in the Red Clay Mission Project.

While in Cedartown, the mission participants spent five days on the Murphy-Harpst campus, living in a ‘tent city’ on the center’s back campus.